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Q & A
An Unlikely Path
VSGA member Mark Newell’ s deep love of golf started later in life— he’ ll channel that passion into his new role as USGA president by CHRIS LANG
MCLEAN’ S MARK NEWELL is a VSGA member at two private clubs— Robert Trent Jones Golf Club and Army Navy Country Club. But Newell’ s golf roots are decidedly more muni than country club.
“ I got into the game as a regular, recreational player on public golf courses,” Newell said.“ I didn’ t belong to a club. No one in my family played golf— I played football, baseball and basketball in high school. But I went out in the summertime and hacked around a bit and came to love it.
“ I never really got the bug to play until later on, when I was near 40. … I became one of those early Saturday morning golfers who joined a group of people that played together for almost 20 years. My strongest memories were how playing together strengthened our friendships. I think I’ ve played 60 courses in the metropolitan D. C. area. We were on the munis and the daily-fee courses, just always having a great time.”
Soon, a desire to volunteer developed. An eight-year member of the USGA executive committee, Newell was formally elected as the USGA’ s 65th president at the organization’ s annual meeting in February. He spoke to Virginia Golfer about his presidency.
An excerpt of that Q-and-A follows. A full transcript can be found at VSGA. org.
On Feb. 3, Newell was elected as the USGA’ s 65th president.
VG: How does your background, having grown up playing more public than private golf, shape the way you approach your USGA work? MN: It helps me have a perspective, and it’ s certainly a part of what the USGA is all about. We need to make sure to take care of the entire game. A lot of what we do with our championships, a lot of the focus that we have in terms of rules changes, has to do with the elite game, and for good reason. But as a governing body and as a leader in the sport, our role is to take care of everyone who plays the game and to make it a great game. I do think I bring an understanding of what it’ s like for that common golfer who is out there.
VG: What drew you into volunteering for the USGA? MN: I was an avid follower and player of the game, and I read a lot about the history. I had some books about the rules. But I was not a long-term USGA volunteer. I got involved as I came into the executive committee, first as volunteer general counsel and then on the committee itself. I quickly became really passionate about what can be contributed by volunteers. I was in awe of people who had given decades of their lives to this and made it a focal point of their experience. So I got involved because it seemed like it would be a really good way to give back.
VG: What have been the most challenging and satisfying aspects of working on the Rules overhaul for 2019? MN: The biggest challenge was to create the opportunity … to have the time to ask ourselves the hard questions. We went back
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14 V IRGINIA G OLFER | M ARCH / A PRIL 2018 vsga. org